Ryan Blaney started 25th in Kansas earlier in the postseason, the lowest of any Chase driver at the time, through no fault of his own. NASCAR’s performance metric system relegated him to that position after qualifying rained out. However, going into 2027, no other driver is expected to face the same issue again.

“What we’re going to do for 2027 is line them up by owner’s points. That’ll make it a little bit easier to explain to our fans. There’s no math involved other than you just look at the owner’s points, and that’s how we’ll line them up on Sunday,” confirmed NASCAR President of Event Management John Probst in an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

The 2023 Cup Series champion, among others, will be the most pleased with the decision. The Penske ace was on the receiving end of the ‘unfair’ system when the Chase started.

“I’m starting to slowly hate it from what’s been happening to us,” said the No. 12 driver back in September.

Frustrations for Blaney built up not only at Kansas, the fourth race of the Chase, but since the postseason started. Blaney’s Chase started at Darlington, lining up 24th, followed by a 29th in Bristol, leading up to Kansas.

So what went wrong with the qualifying metric system? NASCAR, to decide qualifying orders and the lineup in case a session is rained out, uses the system to determine the race order.

Through 2026, the metric used a formula that weighed two factors: 30% current position in owners’ points and 70% previous race finish.

So when Blaney went on a run of bad finishes after the final regular season race, and the first three of four qualifying sessions of the postseason rained out, he did not get the chance to start up front. Instead, he was relegated deep into the field, despite being a Chase contender.

However, going into 2027, only the owners’ points standing will now dictate the starting order.

“I think we had four of our first six (Chase events) or something like that get rained out for qualifying. And then you really do see some of the potential unfairness and how it was going to lay out when we did the wet weather lineup that way,” added Probst.

Credit where credit is due, NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director Brad Moran assured fans that the ever-controversial system would be evaluated during the offseason, especially after drivers like Ryan Blaney openly critiqued it. Heading into the season’s final race, we now have confirmation.

Another possibility that NASCAR is evaluating for next year is All-Star qualifying for selected events.

“We are looking at All-Star style qualifying where you actually have a pit stop for maybe a very select few races next year, just to kind of mix it up. We’re still working on that with the teams, but that is something we’d like to do next year for a handful of events,” explained the NASCAR President of Event Management.

Whether All-Star-style qualifying is something fans want to see incorporated into events other than the exhibition remains to be seen. Yet another tweak might come in the form of qualifying at Superspeedways.

Sessions at drafting tracks see drivers qualify with a two-lap run, which might be changed to a one-lap run for 2027, Probst revealed in the same interview.

With the title-deciding finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway left to go for the 2026 season, it seems like NASCAR brass does listen to the drivers’ complaints after all.

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